Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) have the ability of self-renewal and are pluripotent, meaning that they can differentiate in any type of cells found in the human body [1]. For these reasons, they hold tremendous potential to treat injuries or degenerative disease since they represent an unlimited source of cells that can be differentiated when desired [2]. One of the diseases for which cell-based therapy is considered promising is Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a lethal X-linked disease caused by a mutation in the dystrophin gene, which results in the absence of this structural protein in myofibers [3]. Due to the considerable amount of myogenic cells required in this kind of cell-based therapy [4], human ESCs represent a promising avenue for the elaboration of such a treatment. However, at the moment the use of hESCs in regenerative medicine is compromised by the small amount of efficient specific lineage differentiation protocols published [5]. In the case of myogenic differentiation, Barberi et al. developed a stroma-free induction system to derive engraftable skeletal myoblasts from hESCs [6]. However this technique had a low conversion rate and was time-consuming.
Thus, there remains a need for providing myogenic cells for transplantation. There remains a need for methods of inducing differentiation of stem cells into myogenic cells.
The present description refers to a number of documents, the content of which is herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.